Obligation-Conflict Resolution
Case 21-7 (2021) · Public Safety, Health, and Welfare: Avoiding Rolling Blackouts
Professional obligations conflict, and the board applies no fixed rule for which one wins.
Each resolution is recorded as three edges:
competesWith (the tension),
prevailsOver (the obligation the board allowed to win in this case), and
defeasibleUnder (the situation under which the yielding obligation gives way).
The same tension is then traced across comparable cases, where its resolution shifts with context.
Hover any obligation or state to see its definition; click to open it in OntServe.
How this case resolved it
Featured
Proactive Risk Disclosure Engineer A Rolling Blackout Without Board Request
prevails over
Objective Complete Reporting Engineer A Solar Board Report
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Stakeholder Carbon Reduction Pressure on Solar Transition
Systemic Grid Impact Disclosure Engineer A Solar Transition
prevails over
Reliability Equivalence Qualification Engineer A Normal Conditions Finding
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer A Isolated Project Viability Masking Systemic Risk — Solar Without Storage
Engineer A Long-Term Public Welfare Non-Subordination to Short-Term Sustainability Gain Board Report
prevails over
Competing Public Goods Balanced Advisory Engineer A Carbon vs Reliability
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Carbon Reduction vs Grid Reliability Public Goods Tension
Rolling Blackout Risk Disclosure Engineer A Board Report
prevails over
Engineer A Stakeholder Pressure Resistance Carbon Footprint Advocates Solar Report
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Stakeholder Carbon Footprint Reduction Pressure
Engineer Adam Political Bargain Safety Non-Concurrence BER 98-5
prevails over
Engineer Adam Political Bargain Safety Non-Concurrence Grandfathering Ordinance
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer Adam Politically Conditioned Safety Compliance — Grandfathering Bargain
- Engineer Adam Resource Constrained Inspection State
Engineer A Post-Board-Override Energy Grid Safety Regulatory Escalation BER 20-4 Analogy
prevails over
Engineer A Energy System Reliability Faithful Agent Board Report Obligation
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer A Competing Public Goods Tension — Solar vs. Grid Reliability
Engineer A Objective Complete Reporting Board Solar Project
prevails over
Engineer A Stakeholder Pressure Resistance Carbon Footprint Advocates Solar Report
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Stakeholder Carbon Footprint Reduction Pressure
Open tensions recorded without a resolution:
Battery Storage Alternative Education Engineer A Board Report vs Complete Comparative Advisory Analysis Engineer A Solar vs Generator Options
Competing Public Goods Balanced Advisory Engineer A Carbon vs Reliability vs Energy System Reliability Faithful Agent Report Engineer A
Competing Public Goods Balanced Advisory Engineer A Carbon vs Reliability vs Engineer A Vulnerable Population Grid Reliability Impact Disclosure Rolling Blackout
Engineer A Competing Public Goods Balanced Advisory Disclosure Board Report vs Engineer A Energy System Reliability Faithful Agent Board Report Obligation
Engineer A Energy System Reliability Faithful Agent Board Report Obligation vs Engineer A Energy Transition Public Safety Risk Calibration Rolling Blackout
Engineer A Long-Term Public Welfare Non-Subordination to Short-Term Sustainability Gain Board Report vs Engineer A Stakeholder Pressure Resistance Carbon Footprint Advocates Solar Report
No-Storage Solar Risk Notification Engineer A Board Faithful Agent vs Public Welfare Safety Escalation Engineer A Rolling Blackout Public Impact
Rolling Blackout Risk Disclosure Engineer A Board Report vs Stakeholder Pressure Resistance Engineer A Carbon Footprint Advocates
What the board concluded
- Engineer A has an ethical obligation to include information about the utility generation mix and potential rolling blackouts in a report to the organization’s board.
How comparable cases resolved the same tension
A faithful-agent duty yields to a public-protection obligation. The yielding obligation ("Faithful Agent") recurs across cases; the obligation that overrides it and the context under which it yields differ case by case. This is the case-law move: not a single rule, but a family of context-indexed resolutions.
| Case | Obligation that prevailed | Yielding obligation | Context (defeasibleUnder) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
24-01
Balancing Client Directives and Public...
|
Engineer L Client Budget Pressure Refusal | Engineer L Faithful Agent Boundary | Engineer L Confirmed Risk Without Safeguards; Engineer L Resource Constrained Client |
| Engineer L Client Override Regulatory Report | Engineer L Faithful Agent Boundary | Engineer L Confirmed Risk Without Safeguards; Engineer L Resource Constrained Client | |
|
20-4
Public Health, Safety, and...
|
Engineer B Post-Override Regulatory Reporting | Engineer B Faithful Agent Boundary | MWC Override of Engineers A and B |
| Engineer A Post-Override Regulatory Reporting | Engineer A Faithful Agent Boundary | MWC Override of Engineers A and B | |
|
95-5
Failure To Include Information In...
|
Engineer B Expert Witness Neutrality | Engineer B Faithful Agent Boundary | Engineer B Adversarial Engagement; Engineer B Client Defense Bias |
| Engineer B Complete Technical Reporting | Engineer B Faithful Agent Boundary | Engineer B Adversarial Engagement; Engineer B Client Defense Bias | |
|
04-8
Public Welfare—Client Action Following...
|
Engineer A Safety Obligation Wetland Fill | Engineer A Faithful Agent Limits Wetland | Engineer A Confirmed Environmental Risk; Engineer A Faithful Agent Duty Conflict |
| Engineer A Wetland Confidentiality Limits | Engineer A Faithful Agent Limits Wetland | Engineer A Confirmed Environmental Risk; Engineer A Faithful Agent Duty Conflict |